Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1887-05-31
APLAn 70 PREVENT eo,ss'

- ~1tiH0
An invention TO Which thu
OF Ingenious American. nueatIon
bly, Called. y PORE.
III some OF the Thousand. :.
can inventors who are wearia. nnst
gray matter in their heads NM oA Tie
their lives in fruitless strur, ss' '''l
the car-coupler problem and M ns" WV
switch devise, would turn ~. patent
tloa to a certain practical nesa :. s''en'
retail druggist they might win ~ ! ~
II not fame. The druggist peass .uns'
sort of sure and sharp nrs. sons
against the careless use Of n.;' a'ss
his prescription department I'm
mistakes don't often occur 4 !. .aM
But so long as there is no ,.,. 1ue
against mistakes save the caress' uAa
of sleepy drug clerk, drurgIs,s a ~
have a very happy time Of i ~
most experienced compounded - Ne
scriptions in the world is liablo ! ~ ~
down the wrong bottle sometimes 'a n
impress upon their prescription s,..s
the fact that they are HANDLING 49,.
druggists have resorted 70 s'm
many devices. A druggist on r svOd
Broadway. who does large busjn rrs'
keeps all his poisons on a .an..
shelf behind q glass slide that NM.
be opened in peculiar msrn.
Others have curiously-shaped ao,,.
for deadly compounds. A eomma.
trick is to have the labels on n. =.
ties printed in strange and startl..
way. SO they may be sure to a,,r.a,
the attention of anyone who hawai-.
them.
The futility of such schemes, vh;.h
after all. leave some loophole for br
man carelessness, was shown by recar,
experience of the aforementio ned drrr
gist. His store had been unds,
going a spring cleaning durins
the day. just after aman who h,S
rung the clerk up at 2o'clock
in the morning to get prs.
scription filled had gone out the bor.
rified clerk discovered that someone
had transposed the oxaiic acid and air.
up simplex bottles. The clerk knew
the mans name, but not his addr.s.
There were sixteen Charles Hermans
in the directory. any one Of whom
might be the man with the fatal dose
The clerk had some sense left in spits
ofhis excitement, and. after calling in
two or three policemen and as mauy
messenger boys, managed " run down
the right Charles Herman before he
had tasted the contents of the bottle.
There are more gray hairs ia tile
clerks head now than there were 4
week ago, and several Charles Her.
mans had unnecessary visions Of arrest
for unknown malefactions.
The most ingenious arrangement
thus far devised is to DO seen in the dis.
pensary of German druggist on Third
avenue. All the poison bottles are
made with metal bands to which little
chains are attached. The chains run
down behind the prescription desk, and
are fastened to an automatic bell
Taking the bottle from the shelf pull
the chain up and rings the bell The
proprietor thinks that no matter how
fast asleep his clerk may be the bel
W II waken him in an instant Ii is al
expensive arrangement. however, an
not altogether sure. When an invento
hits upon a scheme that will work t
absolute certainty even when the clerl
has been out all night to tho Dsutsche
Saengerbund and is rs sound asleep a
a log he will have solved the most per
picking problem in pharmaceutica
practice. -Net0 York Mad ard Express